Sequel season can’t live up to original

SAN DIEGO - From a personal standpoint, the first season for Colt McCoy as starting quarterback at Texas could not have been scripted better. His second year — like most sequels — has not measured up by comparison.

“Last year was like a miracle season. Not much went wrong,” said McCoy, who will lead the Longhorns against Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday. “Things always seemed to happen at the right time. This year, I have definitely grown and matured. I’ve had to.”

McCoy’s statistics are by no means awful, as the dual-threat sophomore has passed for 3,129 yards and 21 touchdowns and run for 408 yards and three scores. But the mistakes — such as two fumbles and an interception in a loss to rival Texas A&M — gnaw at him, not to mention a Longhorns football community that has come to expect contending for a national title each season.

“In my mind, I’ve become a much better quarterback because of the things I’ve experienced, the turnovers, playing with adversity,” McCoy said. “I think that’s what makes a quarterback grow. I’ve played inconsistent and not as well as a quarterback should.

“But the only thing you can do with that is respond, and that’s what I have tried to do all year.”

For McCoy, the bar was set high with a sensational ’06 in which he handled with ease the double-shot pressures of quarterbacking the Longhorns.

Not only did McCoy have to live up to expectations that accompany a Texas high school star, but the guy he was replacing — Vince Young — just happened to lead the Longhorns to a national championship the year before.

However, McCoy proved to be a worthy successor, leading UT to 10 victories and tying an NCAA freshman record for touchdown passes with 29 (that mark was broken this season by Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford).

In 2007, as McCoy has had to shoulder more of the offensive load for the Longhorns, his scoring tosses are down and interceptions up (from seven to 18). Injuries have claimed a key receiver and two starting offensive linemen.

“His numbers don’t look good with the interceptions,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “Some of them are his fault, some of them are protection and about half of them are tipped balls or dropped balls or balls going through hands. He has been very unfortunate in those areas. But he has also done a lot of good things.”

One of McCoy’s biggest accomplishments this season is establishing that he can be as big of a threat with his legs as his arm. The Texas coaches have implored him to not be hesitant about running when a pass play breaks down.

“Colt can scramble and make plays,” Brown said. “He’s playing his heart out and playing tough, and we like the fact that’s he’s running so much better than he was before, and that is something we think we can utilize more.”

ASU coaches respect McCoy’s running ability so much that they are simulating it on the scout team by using a cornerback, Grant Crunkleton, at QB.

“Very rarely do we call a quarterback running play,” McCoy said. “It’s all off busted plays when the pocket collapses, and you have to scramble around and try and make a play. Those are just things that happen.”

Regardless of what Longhorns’ win total and his personal statistics state, McCoy feels that he has progressed this season.

He cites a two-game stretch against Nebraska and Oklahoma State, in which the Longhorns overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to win both weeks.

“Being able to come back from that, it shows that when things aren’t going good, if you stick with it and have the determination and get your team fired up and ready and make them believe that good things can happen, that defines who a quarterback is,” McCoy said. “To be able to do that is something special.”